Glass tile



Aug. 15, 1939. N, H, CEDERQUIST 2,169,720

GLASS TILE Filed March 5, 1938 Haj WMM

Patented Aug. 15, 1939 v UNITED STATES,

PAT NT OFFICE GLASS ma mu new 1.; Angela, Calif. Application March 5,193:. Serial No. 194,084

sections of plate glass which may or may not '10 have a decorativecoating applied to the back thereof. Heretofore, various types ofceramic tile have been used butdue to the fact that there are a numberof limitations on the colors obtainable with the glazing or coloringmaterials,

15 the use of such ceramic tile is'somewhat limited.

By using sections of plate glass it is possible to apply enamel coatingsto the back of the sections which are baked at a much lower temperaturethan that required in firing ceramic tile. In this 20, way, by usingenamel having a low baking temperature, a multitude of different coloreffects 30 ing structure as the cement contacting the enamel on the backof the'tile is apt todisflgure it. It is also important to. makesuitable provision for expansion and contraction of the individual tilesdue to temperature changes and to so mount the 35 tiles that some degreeof flexibility is preserved whereby an accidental blow or impact withthe tile will not necessarily fracture one or more of the individualtiles. Specifically, it is an object of the present inven- 40 tion toprovide a tile wherein there is a body which may or niay not haveapplied thereto on its rear surface an ornamental coating visiblethrough the body and to provide means on the tile enabling it to bemounted on the supporting 45 backing in such a manner that it will nothave cement'or the like contacting the coating which might otherwisedisfigure it.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a means for settingtile of this character in 50 sucha manner as to permit of expansion andcontraction of a wall or panehmade up of the tile due totemperaturechanges} Another object of the invention is to provide a method ofsetting tile of this character which 55 will enable an individual tilethat may have been fractured to be removed and replaced quite read ily.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be mademanifest in the following detailed description and specifically pointedout in the appended claims, reference is had to the accompanying drawingfor an illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Figure 1 is apartial view illustrating a wall or panel to which the tileembodying the invention have been applied; Fig. 2 is a horizontalsection through the same; and 1 Fig. 3 is a rear view in plan of one ofthe tile which may be employed in constructing the wall or panel shownin Figure 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing wherein similar referencecharacters designate similar parts throughout, the tile may be appliedto any suitable supporting structure but in the preferred embodiment itis applied to a section of five-ply wood veneer indicated at l0. Byutilizing such a backing for a support, not only is there a sturdysupporting structure obtained but the material is comparativelyinexpansible particularly when the grain of alternate sheets or plys arearranged at right angles to each other. To this supporting structurethere is applied a layer of fibrous or woven material such as forexample, a layer of burlap N. This layer is merely cemented by anysuitable cement or adhesive over the surface of the ply board ID. Thetile employed are in the form of sections of plate glass such sectionsbeing designated by the reference character I2. Their forward edges arepreferably beveled off 5 with a small bevel as indicated at l3. Thesebody sections of plate glass or the like have a color coating applied totheir rear faces and in the preferred form of construction, this colorcoat is in the nature of an enamel that can be baked 4 at a temperatureof approximately 350 F. By utilizing such an enamel not only is thecolor coat highly stable, but innumerable colors may be employed due tothe fact that such enamels can be obtained in practically any colorwhich is not 5 possible with the glazes used in baking ceramic tile atmuch higher'temperatures.

It will be, of course, obvious that other suitable I coatings may beemployed besides enamel and the invention is in no way restricted to theuse of this particular type of coating.

When the coating has been applied tothe rear faces of the plate glasssections, provision is made whereby the tiles may be mounted against theburlap'facing H in such a manner that the cement used will not contactwith the color coating. To this end, strips of kraft paper II areprovided which are positioned across the rear faces of each tile at thetop and bottom thereof. These strips of kraft paper havea lining ofmetal foil such as for example, aluminum foilapplied to their, forwardfaces so that the aluminum foil is positioned directly against the colorcoating. The strips of paper together with their metal foil lining areattached to the tiles by strips of adhesive tape such as that indicatedat it with'the edges of the adhesive being bent forwardly over the edgesof the tile as indicated at I! on Figure 2. In this way the paper stripsI, together with their metal foil lining form thin metallic barriersagainst any moisture or cement contacting the back of the color coat onthe back, ofthe tile. The tiles as thus constructed then have acompressible coating ll applied to their edges which coating extendsover those portions of the adhesive tape it that are adhered to theedges of the .plate glass sections. This. coating should have arelatively high melting point such as in the neighborhood of 500 F. Itshould be somewhat wan in nature and should be slightly compressible. Asuitable composition for this coating may be made up of of syntheticresin and 50% of beeswax. This coating is merely applied hot to theedges of the tile and serves to effectively seal.

The tile as thus constructed are in condition to be applied to thefabric facing, II and to this end cement may be applied to thoseportions of the adhesive tapes which are exposed on the back of thetile. With spots of cement thus applied to the adhesive each individualtile may be applied to the fabric facing II and caused to adherethereto.

The cement used over the adhesive tape is prevented from coming incontact with the color coating by the metal foil lining so that in noevent will the color coat become disfigured. The ccment used on theadhesive tape it is merely for the purpose of temporarily holding eachtile to the fabric facing and in positioning the tile it is advisable toso space them as to provide for relatively wide joints adapted toreceive grouts.

when all of the tile have been applied to their proper position on thefabric of burlap facing II, the Joints between the tile aregrouted upusing a hydrochloric as distinguished from a hydraulic cement. Thehydrochloric cement has the eifect of expanding slightly on setting. Thejoints are i completely filled with this material and itis caused topenetrate between the threads of the burlap facing I I and preferablythe joints are filled sufilciently so that the grouting materialindicated at ll extends slightly beyond where the bevel starts. In thisway the grouting material in the Joints has its forward face slightlydovetailed in section and as the grouting material penetrates the burlapfacing it locks each tile around its edges to the burlap facing.

The coating ll being somewhat compressible will be compressed slightlywhen the grouting cement expands on setting so that the expansion of thegrouting cement is not transmitted directly to the plate glass bodies ofthe individual tiles. Furthermore, when the tile structure is subject'-ed to temperature changes the presence of this compressible coating onthe edges of each tile compensates for the expansion and contraction ofthe entire wall or panel.

If it is desired the coating may have smallgrcovescutinitontheedgesofthetileandthe grouting material II can becaused to enter thue shallow grooves to. eifectively .lock the tiles tothe fabric facing II. By utilizing such grooves it is not necessary toextend the face of the grouting material onto the bevel on each tile.

With each tile being locked onto the fabric facing by the grout in thejoints some flexibility of the entire panel or wall is present. Whilethis flexibility is not great it is sufilcient to enable each tile tomove slightly independently of the remaining tile when the structure isaccidentally given quite a severe blow and consequently, accidentalbreaking of tiles is reduced to a minimum. However, should it occurthat'one tile becomes chipped or fractured'it is possible to remove thattile independently of remaining tile by merely removing the groutingcement ll surrounding it. As the cement is not attached directly to theglass but there is an intervening compressible coating of a waxy nature,the removal of the tile can be accomplished quite readily.

From the above-described construction it will be appreciated that anovel tile and method for setting tile is provided enabling the use ofsuch brittle material as plate glass to which may be applied whendesirable, color or coating. The method enables the temporary mountingof each tile onto the backing in such a manner that no cement comes indirect contact with the color coating. After being temporarily mounted,each tile is permanently attached to the backing by the grout that fillsthe Joints between the tile.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A tiled panel comprising a layer of fibrous material applied to thesurface over which the tile is applied, tiles positioned against thefibrous material, each tile having a beveled outerredge and groutingmaterial penetrating the fibrous material between the tile filling thejoints therebetween and extending forwardly onto the beveled edges so asto be dovetailed in form and serving to attach the tiles to the fibrousmaterial.

2. A tile comprising a plate glass body to the back of which is applieda color coat, and strips of material applied over the back of the colorcoat enabling the application of cement thereto without the cementcoming in contact with the color coat, said strips being detached fromthe color coat, and means for fastening said strips to the glam body.

3. A tile comprising a plate glass body to the back of which is applieda color coat, and strips of material applied over the back of the colorcoat enabling the application of cement thereto without the cementcoming in contact with the 5. A tile panel comprising a layer of fibrousmaterial applied to the surface over which the tile is to.be applied,tiles positioned against the fibrous material, each tile having astripof msterial fastened to the edges thereof but not to the backthereof, cement connecting the backs of said sections of material to thefibrous material,

and grouting material between the tiles filling the joints therebetweenand penetrating the fibrous material serving to attach the tiles to thefibrous material.

6. A tile panel comprising a layer of fibrous material applied to thesurface over which the tile is to be applied, tiles positioned againstthe fibrous material, each tile having a strip of material fastened tothe edges thereof but not the back thereof, cement connecting the backsof said sections of material to the fibrous material, and groutingmaterial between the tiles filling the joints therebetween andpenetrating the fibrous material serving to attach the tiles to thefibrous material, each tile having a beveled forward edge and thegrouting material extending forwardly onto the beveled edges so as to bedovetailed in form locking the tiles to the fibrous material.

'7. A tile comprising a plate glass body to the back of which is applieda color coat, and strips of material applied over the back of the colorcoat enabling the application of cement thereto without the cementcoming in contact with the color coat, said strips being detached fromthe color coat, means for fastening the strips to the edges of the glassbody, and a compressible coatlug applied to the edges of the glass body.

8. A tile panel comprising a layer of fibrous material applied to thesurface over which the tile is to be applied, tiles positioned againstthe fibrous material, each tile having a strip of material fastened tothe edges thereof but not to the back thereof, cement connecting thebacks of said sections of material to the fibrous material, acompressible coating on the edges of the tiles, and grouting materialbetween the tiles filling the joints between the compressible coatingsthereon and penetrating the fibrous material serving to attach the tilesto the fibrous material.

9. A tile panel comprising a layer of fibrous material applied to thesurface over which the tile is to be applied, tiles positioned againstthe fibrous material, each tile having a strip of material fastened tothe edges thereof but not to the back thereof, cement connecting thebacks of said sections of material to the fibrous material, acompressible coating on the edges of the tiles, and grouting materialbetween the tiles filling the joints between the compressible coatingsthereon and penetrating the fibrous material servinggto attach the tilesto the fibrous material, each tile having a beveled forward edge and thegrouting material extending forwardly onto the beveled edges so as to bedovetailed in form locking the tiles to the fibrous material.

NIIS HERMAN CEDEBQU'IST.

